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EDH Jiu Jitsu had 4 competitors hit the mats this weekend in Santa Cruz, CA. The BJJ Tour is one of northern California’s longest running tournament organization, with the US Open as their foremost tournament.

Black belt Todd Jones dusted off his gi after taking 6 years off from competition. He finished with a Silver medal. In the finals of the the tournament he started with match with a takedown and after the score was tied from a sweep gave up an advantage to lose the decision. “It felt great getting out there and competing again. I’m getting ready for the Master’s Worlds in August so this was a great tune up!”

There were 3 kids competing this weekend as well. White belt Mateo finished with a gold after a decisive victory in the opening match. He had two more matches that day and won them both convincingly. Mate has been competing often and has managed to win gold in the last three tournaments. Gray belts Marshall and Slater both medaled as well. Marshall with a Silver and Slater with a Bronze. Both of their matches were impressionable fights, leaving the spectators with some excitement in their nail biter matches.

The All Star tournament was a great opportunity for everyone to get out of town and compete. Competition, win or lose, is a chance to see progress and growth in the athletes abilities and find areas to improve upon for the future.

On January 28th and 29th at the San Jose Community College the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation) San Jose Open took place. The tournament was a two day tournament in the Gi and NoGi. This was a great opportunity to test their skills in a local northern California competition. Probably the biggest tournament outside of the BJJ Tour Championships; US Open, American Cup, and All Star Championships. Members of EDH BJJ, competing as Yemaso BJJ, finished with the following results:

The tournament was a great opportunity to start the year with a competition. A few high lights of the tournament came with Zack Smith taking Bronze in his division but coming back the next day to win the Gold in the NoGi division. This showed great persistence and determination. Another big victory of the weekend came from coach Eliot Kelly winning gold in the Ultra Heavyweight division beating Vinicius de Magalhães of Vinny Magalhaes BJJ in the finals. Vinny is an incredibly talented prize fighter in MMA, Jiu Jitsu and Grappling. He is an ADCC champion, IBJJF World Champion, EBI and UFC competitor.

Guard-Play or Passing Guard?

It’s good to decide, before the sparring match, if you would like to Play Guard or Pass Guard. If both fighters want to pass and the match begins on the feet (opposed to the knees) then someone will have to takedown or throw their opponent to the mat, which forces the opponent to play guard. If both fighters want to play guard, the one who pulls guard first is playing guard.

Generally, the fighter passing guard will make grips on the opponent’s lower body (knees, hips, ankles) to control the legs and hips of the guard player. The fighter playing guard will make grips on the opponent’s upper body (Not always, but this is a good way to start off with until you develop a more advanced guard) to control the distance of the passer, as well as their posture, and their ability to move around you in either direction.

It’s good for the guard passer to keep a leading knee between themselves and the guard player to prevent the guard player from closing the guard around their waist. This adds another (dangerous) step between being in their guard and passing guard. The guard player will try to keep their feet, knees, or (butterfly) hooks between themselves and the passer’s body and legs to prevent them from pressuring their guard with their weight.

The basic objective of the guard passer is get passed their guard into side-control, knee on belly, or mount. The basic objective of the guard passer it to sweep (their opponent to the ground: reversing the positions), Submit, or take the back (To back-control with the hooks).

It’s good to practice both, but it’s better to know what you want to practice before your opponent decides for you.

Etiquette:

It’s good form to bow and shake hands, before and after a match. It’s also good form not to celebrate when you win and not sulk when you lose.

Being too aggressive with strength and size (rather than technique) might also be perceived as disrespectful and unnecessary. The term “Sparring” implies training to fight by simulating the movements and technique of Jiu-Jitsu. There is force, endurance, strength and agility involved, but the idea behind sparring is that you can do it with anyone, both of you walk away without any injuries or sore feelings toward one another.

Learn by Example:

Watch the upper-belts and pay attention to how they spar when you roll with them. Most upper belts have training long enough to know what makes for a long term sparring partnership as well as avoid injuries on both sides.

As we head into 2017, we are going to continue to see the innovation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by competitors and practitioners all over the world. I believe we will see an innovation of a jiu jitsu as a mixed martial art as practitioners from different cultures of grappling continue to give a try in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

While Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will maintain it’s strong foundation in it’s practical self defense applications, we should begin to see the sport continue to change. Just as international Judo competitions have noticed a cross over of the regions ethnic wrestling into their national and international Judo applications, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will do the same.

Jiu Jitsu will no longer be exclusive to Jiu Jitsu, but also include those with wrestling, Judo, sambo, mongolian wrestling, and any form of grappling. This innovation of technique is possible because while technical subsets of the sport are highly specific and detailed, the common goal (to submit someone) is extremely broad. As long as you are able to submit someone or control a person on the ground you can be declared the winner.

As we look at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2017, expect to see it’s continued innovation and evolution as a mixed martial art of grappling. Grapplers who explore different possibilities from their ethnic wrestling background and incorporate trainings to included them in their technical prowess will find success on the mat.

In the finals Javen showed impressive technical prowess, gaining a takedown, mount and eventually finishing with a armbar. This followed his win a few weeks ago at the Grappling X Championships held in Elk Grove, CA. When asked about jiujitsu Javen said, “I love jiujitsu. I love the way it has changed my mind, body, and spirit. One day I’m going to be a world champion!”

On Labor Day, September 5th, EDH Jiu Jitsu is organizing a clean up at Folsom Lake. While the lake is at a low, it’s a great opportunity to talk about the importance of water preservation, cooperation, responsibility, and community while picking up litter left behind after recreational use of the lake.

This is a family friendly community event. Please feel free to invite your friends and family.

\Time: 8:00am-9:30am

Folsom Lake entry: Beals Point

Bring: gloves and trash bags and a “grabber” if you have one.More information on parking waivers will be on the facebook event page, but parking will be free!

At El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu our Pee Wee (age 4-6), Kids (age 6-9), and Juniors (age 9-13) class changes it up to train NoGi. Some people who are new to Jiu Jitsu might be wondering what NoGi means. NoGi is a simple way to talk about a uniform that is basically t-shirt and shorts. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and many grappling organizations have adopted this NoGi uniform to give professionalism to the look while considering safety of the participant.

There are a few safety measures to consider when we make the uniform switch from Gi to NoGi. First, it’s important that the uniform doesn’t have any pockets. Hands and feet can get caught in pockets and in a faster paced NoGi training this can be very dangerous. Another important part of the uniform is that there are no metallic parts to the uniform. Many shorts might have zippers or buttons that with pressure can hurt, scratch, and even cut someone. The last thing to consider is the tightness of the shirt. We strongly recommend tight fitting rashguard type shirts. When the shirt is too loose it can become a hazard much like pockets do and trap a hand or foot causing injury.

Here are a few reasons for transitioning to NoGi with our 4-13 year old jiu-jitsu classes.

The 2016 International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation World Championships took place in Long Beach, CA at the CSULB Walter Pyramid. As with every year we saw an even more diverse group of international competitors and spectators from all over the world to cheer on their favorite competitors.

El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu had three competitors. Steve Chaffin in the adult white belt division, Zack Smith in the adult blue belt division, and Eliot Kelly in the adult black belt division. Pictures and short clips from the championships can be viewed on our instagram (follow us!).

Steve with his Bronze medal and Coach Eliot at the 2016 IBJJF World Championships

Steve, competing in his first World Championships finished with a BRONZE medal! He had a dominating performance in the quarter final round winning on points. In the semi final he fell short of getting to the finals after being outscored by his opponent who went on to win the Gold. With two children and working a full time job, Steve worked very hard to get to the world championships in the best physical and technical condition possible! We’re excited to see his progress from this experience.

Zack made his debut for worlds in the lightest rooster weight division. Another full time family man and with a full time job, Zack has was on a roll winning the Pan American Championships and American Cup leading up to the World Championships. Although he lost his first fight, Zack came away with a new appreciation for learning some of the different attacks and positions. We’re excited to see his improvement into 2016.

Eliot began with the black belt open class (all weights combined) and won his first fight by an advantage. In his second fight he faced the reigning world champion Marcus Almeida (Buchecha) and fell short 6-0. Following the open class, Eliot lost his opening match and fell short from making it to the placing rounds. Eliot has a new sense of enthusiasm to compete and train after competing with the best in the world.

El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sends 6 competitors and brings home 3 medals from the IBJJF Pan American Championships. This is one of the largest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament in the world and definitely the largest in the United States of America. From El Dorado Hills, we had 6 competitors train and participate in the event. Here is a list of the competitors and medalists:

Adult Blue belt division: Angel DeSantiago

Master 1 Blue belt division: Zack Smith – GOLD

Master 1 Purple belt division: Garrett Aldrich – BRONZE

Master 5 Purple belt division: Allan Scott – BRONZE

Adult Black belt division: Eliot Kelly

Master 1 Black belt division: Michel Miyashita

This was the first time for El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to bring home a GOLD from the IBJJF Pans event. The team made some great leaps heading into the tournament with the highly anticipated Pans Mini Training Camp as well as the addition of another Black Belt Michel Miyashita visiting from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Congrats to all the competitors and team on a great showing and performance!

We hosted Michel Miyashita for a seminar on Friday at El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Professor Michel Miyashita is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, and received his black belt from Marco Barbosa, leader of B9 Jiu-Jitsu Team. Professor Michel is the leader of Bushido Jiu-Jitsu in Sāo Paulo, Brazil.

The seminar included participants from several different schools including, Yemaso BJJ in Sacramento, Synergy BJJ in Rocklin, Ralph Gracie Sacramento, and students of El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu. Thank you everyone for your participation! We enjoy being able to share innovative talent and world class instruction to the greater Sacramento area.

The seminar by Michel had two parts, ONE: a series of attacks and finishes starting from the side control position. TWO: several different movement drills with the purpose of educating the body and training muscle memory. An important lesson we should all take from the seminar is the concept of being locked in along with the concept of making adjustments. There were a few gasps from the participants, as Michel shared different transitions into finishing holds. He also allowed everyone to film the different movement drills from the second portion of the seminar. This was quite unusual. It’s the first seminar where someone has allowed anyone to film anything without any hesitation.

Michel has spent about one month in El Dorado Hills in 2015, and has spent another month in El Dorado Hills for 2016. We really enjoy bringing the best of the best instruction to the greater Sacramento area. This is only possible with everyone’s participation. Thank you!